By Thomas Cowan: This Saturday, highly rated American Deontay Wilder faces British heavyweight Audley Harrison in what is being billed as a step-up fight. Wilder’s had 27 fights and has knocked out every opponent inside 4 rounds. Unfortunately, all those have been dreadful but people are still already comparing Wilder to George Foreman. Now the fight against Harrison is being billed as the fight he finally steps up. But is it really a step up?
Let me start by saying I’m not a Wilder “hater”, as he likes to say. I don’t hate any fighter and I have no time or respect for fans and writers that clearly hate a certain fighter just because of his nationality or fighting style. I just find it frustrating that there can be so much hype about a fighter who hasn’t faced a single contender. He may well be the next heavyweight champion but he also may well be out of his depth against anyone decent, we just don’t know.
His only opponent his faced that was ranked in the top 100 heavyweights was Kelvin Price, a light hitting 37 year old who didn’t step in a boxing ring until he was 30. The only other opponent he faced that had fought at a decent level was Owen Beck, who was knocked out by Nikolay Valuev when he challenged for the WBA title in 2006, but by the time Beck faced Wilder he was completely shot and coming off 7 straight losses.
I do respect Wilder for the way he fights to support his daughter Naieya, who suffers from a spina bifida and I believe Wilder would be willing to fight anyone in the division but unfortunately Golden Boy have matched him extremely carefully which has led to Wilder losing the respect of some fans. I also respect the guts Wilder has shown by traveling to the UK to fight Harrison. A lot of American fighters don’t like fighting outside USA and traveling to the UK for the fight will mean Wilder won’t be fazed by traveling to Europe if he ever lands a fight against one of the Klitschko brothers.
Going back to my original question, is Harrison really a step-up? Some writers have tried to explain away his last two embarrassing defeats to David Haye and David Price by saying Harrison just froze but the only reason he froze was because he was badly out of his depth, and he knew it. Decision losses to second tier fighters such as Michael Sprott, Danny Williams, Martin Rogan and Dominic Guinn prove Harrison simply doesn’t have the skill to fight at the top level and I don’t think it will prove much if Wilder destroys him and I expect he will.
However, this is the first time Wilder’s faced someone with the power to hurt him and that’s why I’m interested in this fight. Question marks have been raised against Wilder’s chin and a lot of people believe his slim legs won’t be able to support him after he takes a big shot. I can see the logic in that argument because I watched Wilder get dropped by journeyman Harold Sconiers but to be fair to Wilder, it didn’t look like he was too badly hurt.
Despite these doubts, if this fight lasts long enough for Harrison to land a few left hands and Wilder takes them without any problems, that should be enough to confirm Wilder has decent chin. In Wilder’s previous fights, we’ve seen him loading up with huge right hands that could leave him vulnerable to a counter punch and it will be interesting to see if he fights in the same manner against a powerful heavyweight. If he beats Harrison convincingly, hopefully Wilder can continue to climb the rankings by facing someone ranked in the top 15.
As for Audley, he seems to have got it into his head a win on Saturday will lead to a world title shot because he’ll be ranked in the top 15. What he doesn’t seem to realize is that he only got a title shot last time he worked his way into the top 15 because WBA champion David Haye knew the fight would make a lot of money in Britain. No British fighter holds a world title anymore and the Klitschko brothers won’t give Harrison a shot just because of one good win. If Harrison beats Wilder, he’s still at least 3 fights away from a world title chance.
I don’t see this fight going past 2 rounds and I think whoever lands a big shot first will probably win by knockout. The only thing I hope is that Harrison doesn’t get hurt. The way he lost his fight against David Price led to a broken nose and a night in hospital and the way Harrison lied motionless on the canvas after the knockout was worrying. Wilder punches as hard, if not harder than Price so I can only hope we don’t see him knocked out cold.
Prediction: Wilder to win by KO in 2nd round
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